Three Kings

The German intelligence soon indicated that the British had further designs on Dakar, and that they had even retained forces in Freetown that could be used in another operation there. So the Germans convinced the French that the place was simply too far away to adequately defend, and that Casablanca was a far better location for their Atlantic Force De Raid. It was only 180 miles south of Gibraltar, protected by German infantry now crossing into Spanish Morocco, and covered easily by German air power.

In spite of its utility as a knife in the gut of the British convoy routes into the South Atlantic, Dakar was another 1500 miles to the south and would have to be supplied by sea, under the constant threat of interdiction by the Royal Navy. The French finally agreed, moving their big ships out of Dakar, along with all the gold they had hidden away in an operation they called “Termedel’or,” the Gold Run to Casablanca. This left Dakar deliberately open to British attack, and the forces that had been languishing at Lagos and Freetown were soon put to good use in a second attempt to seize that place. In doing this the Axis traded this valuable port, and the threat it represented, in the interest of furthering their own plans.

Admiral Somerville had moved Force H south of Casablanca to cover the seizure of the Cape Verde Islands, and now Dakar. Churchill was clucking when all these operations went off unopposed by the powerful French Navy, which seemed content to sit in its new nest at Casablanca. The British took The Azores, Madiera, the Canary and Cape Verde Islands, and Dakar was the icing on that cake. But while that operation was underway, Admiral Lutjens got new orders from Raeder.

On a foggy night in mid January, the boilers were fired up on the big German battleship Hindenburg at Saint Nazaire. It slipped into the fog, soon to be joined by Bismarck, the battlecruiser Kaiser and the light escort carrier Goeben. While the cat was away with Force H to the south, the mice would play. German intelligence covered the move by deliberately producing false battle orders indicating that the ships were to be recalled to German ports. Bletchley Park picked up the messages, decoded them, and the Germans learned an interesting thing that day. The British were reading their Enigma messages, for their Home Fleet began to immediately work up steam, deploying to the Irish Sea in a good blocking position to intercept any German move into the Atlantic or English Channel.

Ivan Volkov had told the Germans the British had unlocked the secret of their Enigma machine, but they did not believe that possible. Now they began to suspect it was true, and made arrangements to introduce an entirely new code. It was a move that would have dramatic consequences, for the information war was one great conflict the British had won early on, and it led them to many other victories on the ground.

Just as Dakar finally fell into British hands, and Churchill was about to make the announcement in the House of Commons, the news came that one of the three French battleships at Casablanca had put to sea with an escort of cruisers and destroyers, and that both the formidable German battleships had turned south, for Gibraltar, where both forces were soon in a fist of threatening steel. French forces at Toulon were put on short notice that fleet action was imminent, and the Italians were asked to perform a service as well by getting up steam in the battleships they had at Taranto.

This activity had yet another major consequence. The British plan for a surprise raid on Taranto was suddenly foiled by the imminent movement of the Italian fleet. Admiral Cunningham was given the news and told instead that he must make the fleet ready to oppose possible enemy operations at sea. The enemy intent was not yet clear, but one thing was-the Italian battleships would not be found as easy targets at Taranto. They were putting out to sea.

All these naval forces were about to maneuver into the Mediterranean, and they would set up a titanic battle that would decide who controlled those vital sea lanes, and by extension, who controlled the whole coast of North Africa-all the way to Alexandria and Suez beyond. Yet even as the British were trying to sort out these naval maneuvers and determine what to do about them, events were to transpire that would figure prominently in what was now to become one of the largest naval battles in history. And as has been the case so many times before, it would be the fate of a singular ship to find itself at the heart of the matter, the battlecruiser Kirov… And Kirov was not alone. Another steel gladiator was gliding stealthily through the sea, unseen, unknown, as the Russians concluded their rendezvous off the Cape of Good Hope.